Uganda is the youngest country in the world, with a median age of only 15. The number of pupils increases by more than 1 million every year. Every year, the government has to create more than 1 million openings in schools, in order to achieve one of UN’s development objectives: the access to universal primary education.
Once primary education became compulsory and primary school was free, schools in Uganda crowded with millions of children for which education is the only chance for a better life. But what does education mean in a country where children have to walk daily for hours to fetch water, where diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS wreak havoc, and war and famine are current realities? Does it deserve so many sacrifices? Does it really ensure a better life?
Uganda, 15 was produced in the spring of 2009, when the small film crew led by the journalist Marian Voicu crossed Uganda in a 10-days marathon trying to answer these questions. And beyond Africa, the film is also a challenge to the Romanian public to reflect on the issue of education in Romania.